Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:CLF) – Analysts at FBR & Co decreased their Q3 2016 earnings estimates for shares of Cliffs Natural Resources in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. FBR & Co analyst L. Pipes now forecasts that the firm will post earnings of $0.13 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.16. FBR & Co currently has a “Hold” rating and a $6.00 price target on the stock. FBR & Co also issued estimates for Cliffs Natural Resources’ FY2017 earnings at $0.24 EPS and FY2018 earnings at $0.10 EPS.

Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE:CLF) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The mining company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.00 by $0.07. The company earned $496 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $482.37 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.28) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on CLF. Credit Suisse Group AG set a $2.00 target price on shares of Cliffs Natural Resources and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 8th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Cliffs Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $7.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 12th. Clarkson Capital upgraded shares of Cliffs Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 18th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Cliffs Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 1st. Finally, Macquarie dropped their price target on shares of Cliffs Natural Resources from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.78.

Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE:CLF) opened at 5.34 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $5.77 and a 200 day moving average of $5.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $981.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.57 and a beta of 1.75. Cliffs Natural Resources has a 12 month low of $1.20 and a 12 month high of $8.45.

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Cliffs Natural Resources by 15.1% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 35,494 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 4,666 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Cliffs Natural Resources by 20.8% in the second quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 19,532 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 3,360 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Cliffs Natural Resources by 19.0% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 19,954 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 3,189 shares during the period. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Cliffs Natural Resources during the second quarter worth $114,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in Cliffs Natural Resources by 16.4% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 19,188 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 2,710 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.66% of the company’s stock.

Cliffs Natural Resources Company Profile

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc is a mining and natural resources company. The Company is a supplier of iron ore pellets to the North American steel industry from its mines and pellet plants located in Michigan and Minnesota. The Company’s segments include U.S. Iron Ore and Asia Pacific Iron Ore. The Company is a producer of iron ore pellets, primarily selling production from U.S.